Animal Crossing: Happy Home Extortioner
by Survivian
Summary: Lily is a human villager who finds work at Nook Homes. It turns out be something much bigger than just home design. Blackmailing, torturing, ungodly high loans. Nook seems to be at the center of it all. What can Lily do about this?
1. Prologue

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Extortioner  
Prologue

I came to this town to find a job in real estate which has always intrigued me. The only firm in the town happened to be Nook's Homes which looked like a nice place. The employees were kind to take me in and Tom Nook himself seemed pretty lenient. Little did I know of the of mess that I just got into.

My boss is a ravenous loan shark, my co-workers only cared about their pay, and I could not leave the company or show sympathy towards our clients. It was the most grueling job I had ever had.

Eventually, Nook's Homes became history, but it took a great deal of time and energy from me. This is my story as a Nook's Homes employee.


	2. Chapter 1

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Extortioner Chapter 1

I was the most anxious I had ever been. Wearing my business suit on the train. Constantly adjusting my tie to make myself the most presentable. Real estate in this day and age is a serious but fun job. Not only do I sell houses, but I design them on-site to the client's tastes. It was so exciting that I couldn't help but grin sheepishly the entire train ride.

"Hey, you!" I heard a voice a little further down the train. It was a blue cat with red slits for eyes. "Where are you going looking all spiffy?" It came down and sat right in front of me.

"Oh. Hey, Rover." The blue cat was Rover. "I'm going to an interview for a job in a different city. I think it was in Roseburg."

"You think? It's not really a good idea to 'kinda' know where you're going, Lily. Especially on train rides." Rover and I met when I got off at where I live now. It was surprising to see that he still recognized me. "You could miss your stop."

"Well..." I had no counter to that. "Let me just check the ad." I pulled a folded piece of paper out from my pocket. It had the company's name, address, and phone number. It was in Roseburg. "See? Just like I thought."

"Haha. Fine. You got me."

The train's intercom made a couple of dinging noises. A voice played over it after the dinging sound ended. "Next stop, Roseburg. We will be arriving at the station in 2 minutes. All those with business in Roseburg, please prepare your ID cards."

"Looks like Porter's about to kick you off," Rover joked. Porter was the monkey that handled the train. He also apparently has the ability to duplicate himself because he's at every train station everywhere even when he's driving the train. "I'll see you again soon, Lily." Rover got up and went back to his seat. The train came to a halt and I showed Roseburg's Porter my ID card. As I was walking away, Rover yelled from the train, "More Nintendo Power to you!" That made me smile.

The train left. I kept standing on the platform for a bit looking out over the countryside that was Roseburg. There were only a few houses at the time with modest exteriors and yards. I stopped staring at everything and made my way onto Main Street because that's where my interview was. The company had a job vacancy and the requirement was to have an artistic eye. I applied immediately because this was my one chance to get into the industry and I was not going to let it go. I stood in front of the door leading to the inside. After a couple of deep breaths, I walked through the door under the large red sign that read, "Nook's Homes."

Once I entered, I was greeted by a pink otter that was wearing a red blazer over a white shirt with a yellow ribbon tied in a bow. Her skirt was a navy blue color and her hair was tied up in a bun with a sky blue colored bow with white polka dots. "Hello! you must be Lily, right?" Her voice lit up the entire room.

"Yes, I am." My knees were still a bit wobbly.

"Great!" She seemed to look around for something suddenly. She brought a fist down on the opposite palm and said, "Of course." She looked back at me. "The boss is out right now. I think he won't be back until tomorrow, but I can still show you around. My name's Lottie by the way."

Her naturally cheery voice made my nerves calm down. She introduced me to everyone else that was in the store at the time. Digby runs the Happy Home Showcase almost nonstop. He also oversees the renovations of major facilities. Lottie has a major crush on him, but of course, he has no idea. Lyle, Lottie's uncle, is a representative of the Happy Room Association and likes to show off the houses of the clients. He doesn't do much most of the time. Lottie herself is also a home designer. Apparently she's been working for about a year at Nook's Homes. She walked me over to a vacant desk which seemed prepared for someone.

"This is your desk." Lottie's words surprised me.

"My desk?"

"Yep!"

"But what about the interview?"

"Oh, no worries. We were going to hire you ever since you applied for the position. You seemed so full of gusto when you sent the application."

"Really?" I could not believe what I was hearing.

Lottie smiled. "Anyways, since you'll be working here tomorrow, I need to break you in on how we operate." She gestured towards the desk. "After you finish up a day's worth of work, you come back to your desk and fill out a report in this journal." Lottie held up the spiral bound journal. "Mr. Nook values this feedback. It keeps us efficient like the well-oiled machine we should be!"

"Alright. That sounds easy enough to remember."

Lottie nodded in agreement. "Oh, that's right!" She dug in her pockets for a bit and pulled out some clothes. "This is the company uniform. Everyone here wears it as proof that they work here." It was the same white shirt, red blazer, yellow ribbon bow outfit that Lottie was wearing. "Doesn't it just scream 'professional'?"

I nodded and put the uniform in my pocket. "Is that everything?"

"For the most part. Today is a slow day. And there's no way I'm letting the new girl take on a house without training." She laughed at her own joke. "I'll give you the tutorial tomorrow. You can go home if you like. Rest up well for tomorrow!"

I left the store with a large grin on my face. I exploded with a resounding "YES!" and dance-walked the rest of the way to the train station.

[Back at home...]

I live with my younger brother as of right now. We both got off at the same station, but he got off first. He was appointed the new mayor and I was just announced as his sister. He's a pretty okay person and he got used to managing the town in a heartbeat. When we arrived, we already had a large amount of bells which we used to buy a four-room house outright. My brother let me design everything from the flooring to the fixtures which he ended up liking. That was the only fun thing I've done up to this moment. That's why I applied for the job at Nook's Homes in Roseburg. I still had the goofy grin when I walked through my front door which my brother spotted immediately.

"Hey, Lily. You got the job?" He was eating an apple while watching TV.

"Did you become mayor?" I retorted.

"Congratulations. Starting tomorrow?" It was around 10 o'clock when I came back. Hardly a day's worth of work.

"Yep. Tomorrow, I don the uniform of a Nook's Homes employee!"

"Cool. You can start paying for the new extension on the house then. We're going to get a second floor."

"Why would we ever need a second floor?"

"Guests. Sleepovers. Storage. Lots of things. I've already invited some friends over for a game night tomorrow. I'm going to buy the extension later today."

"Alright. Suit yourself, Mr. Mayor. I'm going out again for a bit."

"Okay. Don't hurt yourself."

I went down to my town's Main Street to buy some new clothes. Since the red blazer and white shirt were mandatory, I based my purchases off of that. I went to the Able Sisters and bought some silver frames for my glasses (my eyesight isn't terrible, but it is better with glasses), black stockings, and a rain hat (you never know). After that, I went into Re-Tail and saw a cute pair of black shoes with ivory-colored buckles. Finally, after two hours of shopping and 1500 bells worth of items (a steal really), I returned home. My brother was walking around as the mayor by the time I came home so he wasn't there to keep me interested, so once again I was left with nothing to do. I attempted to watch T.V. but I never watched much in the first place so I lost interest in that quickly. Around 12:30, I heard someone knock on the door. What greeted me was a beige and brown duck with a small yellow bill, rosy cheeks, and was currently holding a fishing rod. Her name is Molly and she was the first friend I made when my brother and I came to town.

"Hey, Lily! Do you mind if I come in?" Her voice was a delightful squeak.

"Not at all! Come in." I directed her to the dining table and she sat down. "Would you like something to drink?" I asked next to the fridge.

"No thank you." Molly put her fishing rod into her pocket. "I heard you got a job." She clapped her hands... wings... whatever... together. "How exciting!"

"I didn't think I would get it either." I poured myself some water and took a sip. I kept standing.

"Where are you working?"

"Nook's Homes." I took another sip.

Molly seemed to stiffen when I said this. I didn't notice it at first, but then she seemed worried. "Why?" It almost sounded like she was accusing me of a crime.

"I always liked the idea of designing houses for other people." I took a longer sip this time. "Is that wrong?"

"No! I'm not saying anything like that, but why are you working at Nook's Homes, specifically?"

"Well, everyone needs to start somewhere. The only real estate place close to town is Nook's Homes and even that's a half hour train ride away. I also figured that since the place was in a developing town, it could give me more experience." I finished off my water and put the glass in the sink. "I also wondered at first why there were no other real estate offices anywhere around here, but hey."

"...There's a good reason for that..." Molly muttered.

"Hm?"

Molly's smile half-heartedly returned. "Nothing. It's fine." She got up from her seat and made her way towards the front door. "I wish you the best of luck on your first day!" She left without another word.

"What was that all about?" I mumbled to myself. I eventually just shrugged it off. For the rest of the day, I milled around town until I went to bed around 10:15 pm. I was still was pretty restless because I couldn't wait for tomorrow. 


	3. Chapter 2

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Extortioner

Chapter 2

The day finally came. My first day as a home designer. The night before, I was so fidgety that I woke up at 6 am, 4 hours before I needed to leave. I milled around the house until 8:30 and proceeded then to eat breakfast and get dressed.

My uniform had been prepped before I went to bed just to make sure I did not wrinkle anything. I had hung them on my door hinge like a display at a clothing store.

I felt a rush of giddiness when I looked at myself in the mirror. I used that enthusiasm to run to the train station right before the 10:00 train left. It would take about 30 minutes to travel to Roseburg and Nook's Homes doesn't open until 11:00 am. I wanted to make the best possible impression of my determination to do well at this job. When I arrived at 10:30, no one was around, so I sat outside.

At around 10:40, Lottie came by the office. She seemed to be wearing a casual outfit that consisted of a baby blue top and a long white skirt. She was also carrying a bag about the size of a messenger bag and it did not seem very full.

"Lily!" Lottie seemed surprised. "You're here earlier than I am. That's a first."

"I wanted to make a good impression on my first day." I stood up and wiped off my skirt. "How'd I do?"

"You made a great first impression yesterday. I could tell that you were bubbling with excitement. So was I on my first day!" We shared a laugh.

"So why don't you have your uniform on?"

"I prefer to bring my uniform and put it on after getting into the building. The changing room on the second floor is where I change. It feels embarrassing walking to work with it on."

Although I did not notice it that day, some of the folk on the train ride here gave strange looks. Others avoided eye contact when I looked in their general direction. The only ones that didn't look at me coldly were the ones that also got off at Roseburg, but even they didn't toss their gaze at me.

"Enough about me, though. Wanna go inside?"

Lottie unlocked the door and both of us went inside. The office itself wasn't large but it was open. On the immediate left, there was a table where the designer and the client confer on the client's references and where to build the house. On the immediate right was another table used for conferences between all of the employees. Behind a large planter separating it and the client table was the empty desk that would soon become mine. To the right again was a long desk with a computer facing away from the wall and a mahogany boss desk with a black leather boss chair.

"This office is so cute!"

"That is exactly what I thought when I first saw this place! Mr. Nook himself designed the place to be functional and ergonomic." Lottie walked me over to the empty desk. It was extremely tidy and only had a catalog clipboard and a "How to Design" book with advanced techniques. "This will be your desk space. Considering you'll be our main designer, I doubt you'll be sitting here a lot. The handbook is a great read, but you really should only not overload yourself with unnecessary knowledge off-the-bat, wouldn't you agree?"

She made a solid point. If there's too much to work with, then I won't know where to start. "Is it okay to read one now?"

"Sure go ahead. When you're done, I'll show you the upstairs."

I read on how to install the ceiling items and I felt accomplished. I followed Lottie up the stairs to the second floor. I saw a couple of machines but I had no clue how to work any of them. A little changing area was to the immediate left after going up the stairs. "Are you going to get changed right now?"

"Might as well. You never know when you could get a surprise customer!" She went into the changing area and quickly put on the company uniform. When she came out from behind the screen, she smiled and struck a pose. It was a bit funny to see someone so happy to be stuck as a secretary for a home designing company. "How do I look?"

"Professional, more or less."

"Alright!" She smoothed any creases in her skirt and started for the stairs. "Follow me for a bit." We continued walking and ended up outside and to the left of the office. Parked in a little area was the company vehicle. "This is the Dream Machine. At least, that's what I like to call it. The name didn't stick too well with the other guys in the office." Lottie dangled the keys out from her pocket. "Let's go for a ride." We got in the car and went on down the road.

"Where are we going?"

"We are going to the house that Nook's Homes uses as a training area for new designs and styles. You will be designing the inside of the house and I'll be judging the work that you put out. This will show if you are really ready for the job. I need you to do your best so put your game face on."

I became both excited and nervous. "I'm ready, I think." We parked next to the house and immediately went inside. It was the blandest one-room house I have ever seen. Lottie gave me a small tablet and proceeded to give me a tutorial.

"The tabs at the top of the screen show different drop-down menus of items. The red tab is for house textures like the walls, the floors, etc. The green tab is the plethora of different furniture items. More of them will be available to you as you speak to clients with varying tastes. The yellow tab is for wall and ceiling fixtures, the blue tab is just rugs, the pink tab is for your own person designs, and the brown tab has the search tab just in case you can't find the one thing you're looking for." I touched the green tab immediately and started to place different pieces of furniture. All of the items were from the "lovely" set, so it was easy to make everything match up. I put in only what was really needed; a bed, a table, some chairs, a fridge, a kitchen set, a TV, and some lights.

"Finished." I felt proud of the job that I had done.

Lottie looked at everything with a critical eye. She finally shrugged and said, "It's a start. You need to put in more furniture. A lot more."

I was confused. "Why? Don't we already have all the furniture that we need?"

Lottie put her hand on my shoulder. "We do, but we really don't. We need to fill in almost every little space in here."

"But why?"

Lottie's face suddenly became serious. Her bubbly attitude popped away. "Look kid." Her cold tone sent an arctic wind down my spine. "Nook's Homes is a business first and foremost. We make the houses, deliver the furniture, and everything else. The client pays for all of that, and what they pay is what we make. If we get paid for the stuff we put in the houses, we should make them bleed for it. You better started getting into this mindset now, rookie. Because if you don't the real estate world is gonna leave you behind in a puddle of your own blood. Understand, rookie?" I was completely speechless. "UNDERSTAND, ROOKIE?"

I put my head down. "Y-Yes ma'am," I squeaked. I was frozen with fear.

"Good. Now if you get it, put some more furniture in." I quickly added in some more furniture until we could both barely squeeze through the gaps in it. I told Lottie that I was done and her bubbly attitude came back. "Great! If you keep this up, you'll be rolling in it in no time!" It was around 11:15 when we finished. Lottie clapped her hands together. "looks like it's time to go back to the office. You ready?" I nodded timidly. "Great! Let's head back."

We started to drive back to Nook's Homes in the company car. We rode in silence for a good bit until I asked, "So how do Lyle and Digby get paid?"

Lottie stared at me for a bit. "Lyle collects the mortgage payments and receives a commission for each one he collects. He gets a bonus when it's paid late. Digby advertises us and the more people he gets to buy homes from us, the bigger his commission for the houses we sell. I do the same job you do sometimes and the rest of the money goes to Mr. Nook and the builders."

"Oh." I couldn't contest that. There was one thing that bothered me, though. "Who's the town's mayor?"

Lottie brought the car to a screeching halt. She turned towards me with a cold smile. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

I felt myself turn pale. "W-Why?"

She turned back towards the road. "Don't ask unnecessary questions to the driver." The car began rolling again. "I might get... distracted." She swerved the car towards a sign on my side. When it was about two yards in front of us, she swerved back onto the road. "Any more questions?"

I tried to slow my breathing. "Is it too late to quit now?"

"What do you think?" Her eyes were shooting daggers.

'I figured as much,' I thought to myself.

By the time we got back to the office, everyone, minus Digby, was there. Tom Nook noticed us almost as soon as we walked in the door. He put on a facade of a smile and greeted us. "Good morning, Lottie. Good morning, Lily. Where were you two this morning?"

"We were at the training house," Lottie answered. "I was teaching Lily how we design our houses." She turned towards me. "Isn't that right?"

"Yes, ma'am." I couldn't look her in the eyes.

"Ah. I see." Tom Nook eyed me up and down. "Past the point of no return, I assume?" he asked Lottie.

"Yes, sir."

"Well then..." He turned back towards me. "...Welcome to the team Lily!"

I had nothing o be proud of anymore. I now realized that I had sold my soul to Tom Nook. From here on in, I was working for a criminal in a competitionless market. I sat like a vegetable for the rest of the day before leaving to go home. Once the train had dropped me off at home at around 4:30 pm, I sulked back to my house. As soon as I sat on the couch, tears began to run down my face. I was angry and scared and I could only let it out by crying.

The door opened and my brother walked in around 5:00. He saw me sitting on the couch. "Hey, Lily. You're home." He turned on the lights and opened up the blinds. "How did your first day go?" I didn't reply. He came over beside me and then finally noticed my tears. "Are you alright?" I shook my head. "Do you want to talk about it?" I retold him the story of what happened while I was over there. He hung on every word and he looked like he was about to cry too. He finally stood up and looked at me. "Don't worry Lily. When the time comes, I'll take care of him. We'll find some dirt on this guy and we'll take him down. I swear to you we will."

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Thanks. You really cheered me up despite being younger than me."

"Well, aren't you crying quite a bit for someone as old as yourself?"

"Ha ha. Funny."

"Anyways. For right now, don't let him get to you. You might not like it, but try to go with the flow, eventually you'll find something that'll be enough to take him down and his company. Alright?"

"Yep." I felt much better after that. After that, I couldn't wait to get back to work to upstage Tom Nook. I fell asleep earlier than usual so I could get the jump on him. I was going to take down this fiend once and for all.


End file.
